Dressed in all white, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeared defiant and unyielding Wednesday in front of the Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations that had sought to have her testify for over a year.
The Republican-led committee is investigating Willis for her conduct during her office’s investigation and criminal case into election interference in 2020 by President Donald Trump and 18 others, for the purpose of creating future legislation.
With the committee chairman, Sen. Bill Cowsert, unable to attend due to a recent medical procedure, the hearing was led by vice-chair Sen. Greg Dolezal, who asked the bulk of the questions. The committee’s attorney, Josh Belinfante, asked Willis’ attorney, former Gov. Roy Barnes, a few questions and the ranking Democrat Sen. Harold Jones also presented Willis with a few clarifying questions.
For nearly four hours, Willis testified under oath in a packed room of legislators from both parties and her supporters, these are the five most contentious moments of the day.
- About 20 minutes into the hearing, Dolezal, following a line of questioning about her office’s budget, asked Willis to estimate how much is spent annually on the anti-corruption unit?
“I’m not going to speculate to it. I can ‘t estimate how much,” Willis began. She explained that if her deputies need an expert, they can hire one using the professional services budget.
“If you all want to look into legislation, look into properly funding your [Georgia Bureau of Investigations], the GBI does not have enough scientific experts. This is not a criticism of the GBI, the scientists that are there are excellent … but they do not have enough experts. So in year one, when I become the DA, they tell me — and I have the email that proves it — we can’t test all your ballistics evidence. We don’t have enough. So I have to go into my budget, more than $100,000, I can tell you that, I think it’s been about that annually, and hire private scientists to do that ballistics work.”
- “When did you consider whether to bring charges in response to the 2020 presidential election?” Dolezal asked.
“Don’t answer that. That’s a deliberative privilege,” Barnes advised Willis.
So Dolezal rephrased to ask Willis if her team began interviewing people in preparation for her to lead an investigation into the 2020 presidential election prior to when she took office.
“If you understand what the word ignorant means, it means the lack of knowledge. If you recall the facts, I was already district attorney when this all came to light, so it’s factually impossible,” Willis responded.
- In the middle of Willis’ instructing the committee on the need to provide more funding to district attorney offices across the state, Dolezal interrupted her in an attempt to regain control of the conversation.
Barnes jumped in to demand she be allowed to finish her answers.
“I’m going to give you latitude here, Madame DA, but the same way in a courtroom, there are guardrails as to what we need to stay,” Dolezal said.
“But you’re not a judge,” Barnes interjected. “You don’t have the power to make evidentiary rulings.”
“I have plenary power,” Dolezal asserted.
“No sir, you do not have plenary power,” Barnes jumped in again. “I know you think you do and that you’re above the law, but you are not. If you want to cite her for contempt so that she is entitled to a jury trial and I can examine you on your motives, then I would be glad to take that,” Barnes said.
- Later in the meeting, as Dolezal got further into the DA office’s financial record, he questioned Willis on a trip to Washington, D.C., taken by members of the team investigating the election interference case, including Nathan Wade.
Dolezal wanted to know about Wade’s contact with the U.S. House Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and clarified that Willis said she did not recall the names of any specific people Wade had met with.
“I can’t recall [that] level of details. I know you want to take me back to 1948 where an African American prosecutor can only prosecute certain types of people, but I prosecute and stand up for all victims that come into my circuit,” she fired back.
- In one of Willis’ final statements to the committee, she challenged them to work on legislation that protects lawmakers and elected officials from personal attacks because of their work and spoke about the personal toll this case has taken on her and her family.
“Just yesterday, I went home and the Department of Justice sent me a letter about another person that they are prosecuting, and then I can come [testify] in January, because this person swatted my home, as well as the homes of other public officials. This has to stop,” Willis said.
“What happened to Marjorie Taylor Greene, it’s horrible that she had to quit her job because there were bomb threats to her house and threatening her children, but she didn’t care when it was me. She didn’t care when my children were threatened. She didn’t care that I haven’t had the ability to live my house, but I’m a better human being than that. I don’t want any of your lives threatened. I may not care for you personally. I may not believe in your politics. I may think that today is nothing but more than evil, and you trying to get yourself elected. All of that being said, I don’t think anyone should threaten you and your family.”
